


until your breathing stops

by indigoshuoyues



Category: Yandere Simulator (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Forgive Me, I AM GARBAGE AT DESCRIPTIONS IM SORRY, I have no idea what I'm doing, Jealousy, One-Sided Attraction, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, Stalking, Yandere Taro Yamada | Senpai, one-sided ayano/taro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23685916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigoshuoyues/pseuds/indigoshuoyues
Summary: Ayano Aishi just wants this school year to pass normally. She wants to be left alone, lest anyone get too close and discover the truth- that she doesn't feel anything besides empty.Taro Yamada has always felt a little bit too deeply, and he's plunged deeper into his emotions when they manifest into a newfound obsession with an enigmatic girl he runs into on the first day of school.Budo Masuta is tired of always trying to be the perfect boy that everyone thinks he is.or,Taro is a yandere, Budo is a chaotic good boy who wants to help people and make some friends, and Ayano doesn't care.(Passive!Ayano, Yandere!Taro)
Relationships: Ayano Aishi | Yandere-chan/Budo Masuta, Ayano Aishi | Yandere-chan/Taro Yamada | Senpai
Comments: 8
Kudos: 227





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I've had in my drive for around two years. The first few chapters might not be very good- they're just revamps of the original, which was posted to Wattpad under a different name.
> 
> Inspired by several works posted on Wattpad and seeking(something) by 17OpenTabs.
> 
> Title taken from Chicago Is So Two Years Ago/Save Rock and Roll by FOB.
> 
> Also, I do most of my writing in the small hours of the morning, so uh... *screeches into the midnight void*

Her father was kind, warm, but… faded. Like he had been hollowed out and turned into this shell of a human being, always being walked on by her mother.

He was, she thinks, always scared that she would take after her mother a little too much.

She didn’t care.

Her mother always told her that love would fix her. 

It should’ve hurt, really, being told that she was broken and needed to be fixed, but it didn’t.

Nothing ever did.

Her days were filled with dull ennui and emptiness, never feeling joy. Anger. Sadness.

Nothing.

It was no surprise that she had felt the same indifference when her parents had told her that they needed to go to America and that she’d need to spend the year alone.

* * *

Her life is neatly structured, folded into little boxes that she checks off every day.

The first day of school is like any other day. She gets up at the same time she always does. She gets dressed. She eats breakfast, which is always simple.

Today it’s toast.

Unfortunately for her, the toaster jams. It takes some tinkering to get it to work again, and that took time.

Meaning that if she didn’t leave immediately, she was going to be late.

Muttering a curse, she grabbed her toasted and bolted out of the house and down the street, looking down at the ground and not paying any attention to where she was going—

She crashes into someone, and lands on her butt with an undignified  _ “oof” _ . There’s someone on top of her, a boy, arms braced at either side of her head. He wears an Akademi High uniform.

Interesting. She’s never seen him before. He must be in a different grade.

There’s something strangely off putting about him, she realizes, as he raises his head to look her dead in the eyes— something animalistic, primal. It’s almost like—

Irrelevant, she needs to get to school.

“Excuse me,” she says in her usual dull tone, “I don’t need to be late for school. Do you mind?”

The boy looks flustered, for a moment, then collects himself. “Oh, yeah, yeah. Sorry,” he squeaks out, before lifting his hands, allowing her to extricate herself from underneath him. Wordlessly, she sidesteps him and dashes to school.

* * *

She’s on time. Barely.

She’s pressed up against some students she doesn’t know in the gym, where they’re packed like sardines in the center of the court and clamoring to get a good look at the stage, where the principal and all of the club leaders stand.

She has always regarded Principal Shuyona with the same brand of apathy that she regards everyone else, but she’d be a fool if she’d never noticed his wariness around her. She had always wondered why, of course, but it was probably unimportant. She had oftentimes been told that her eyes were unsettling.

As Shuyona stepped down from the podium, Kuroko Kamenaga steps up. Interesting that the vice president of the student council should be giving the speech. Megami Saikou is nowhere to be seen, interestingly enough. Ayano doesn’t take much stock on that train of thought.

She zoned out of the the speech, not noticing when a girl with bright, messy hair, took the podium, nor when Oka Ruto did—

“I’m Budo Masuta, and I run the Martial Arts Club!”

The loud male voice is a shock to her system, rife with genuine enthusiasm and zeal. It’s unpleasant, she dislikes loud people, or at least she thinks she does— they’re disruptive, they don’t let her think.

The next thought that crosses her mind is that it is absolutely absurd for her to blame that Masuta character for derailing her train of thoughts, as if he had done so to personally offend her, but she shoves it away and returns to her revelries.

* * *

Soon enough, the assembly is over and they head to class at 8:30, on the nose.

She slinks into class 2-1 and slides into her seat, deliberately avoiding eye contact with any of her classmates— avoiding their faces in general.

It’s better that way.

Her teacher is Rino Fuka. It must be her first year teaching here, based off her youth and the fact that Ayano has never seen her before. She’s strict, despite it being the first day— eager to please her superiors, to prove herself.

Ayano knows this type all too well. Her mother, after all, would always try to deem herself worthy of her father’s affections. It always seemed to have the opposite effect— the harder her mother tried to please him and play the perfect wife, the more her father’s very being suffered from attrition.

She doesn’t want to be like her mother, nor does she believe that she takes after her mother in that way— she has never dreamed of a faceless, loving senpai who will unlock a new world of emotion and excitement for her. 

In order to mollify her mother, she always says she does.

It’s alarming, really. She doesn’t want the codependency that her parents seem to share.

The bell rings. Her eyes snap up, checking the clock. It’s lunchtime, now, but there are too many students rushing out of the classroom. She waits for a moment, then slips out at the end.

* * *

For Ayano, lunch is a dull affair. She just finds a quiet spot on the roof and eats alone, staying out of anyone’s day.

However, it has not been a typical day for her this far, and there is no reason for it to be typical going forward. Such is the case when she runs into someone for the second time that day, clutching her bento box.

“Sorry!” comes the apology from a booming male voice, one she recognizes as Budo Masuta, the Martial Arts Club leader from the morning assembly. She could’ve sworn that he wasn’t the leader, but there could be a reasonable explanation for that. 

“I’m Budo,” he said genially, brushing himself off as he stood up and extended a hand to her. She looked up at him vacuously, before standing up herself. “Not the talkative type, I see,” he said with the same honeyed tone, “That’s okay! We don’t have to be friends right off the bat.”

Her interest was piqued, mildly. “Who said anything about being friends?”

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Well… I just like making new friends, and you don’t seem half bad. Plus, you seem lonely. Everyone needs a friend, you know?”

“People don’t like me,” she intoned bluntly, “It’s better that I stay out of their way.”

“Hey, that can’t be true! Some people have to enjoy having you around! You seem cool, I’d definitely like your company,” he replied resolutely, “Tell you what. Why don’t you join the Martial Arts Club. No pressure, of course, but we always love having new members, We’re like a little family, because we’re all very close friends, and I think you could use a friend.”

She sighed, defeated, and maybe slightly annoyed that she was losing precious lunch time, “...I’ll think about it.”

“Great,” he clapped, “That wasn’t a no!”

Ayano nodded curtly and darted away, still clutching her bento box in her hands. “My name is Ayano.”

As the girl—  _ Ayano _ left, Budo noticed another figure, peeking out from over the corner of the hallway. He was fairly certain that said figure was Taro Yamanda. Yamada has always been an interesting character— keeping to himself and his books. Popular with girls for some inexplicable reason, but loving Taro Yamada would always end in heartbreak. Budo has tried to befriend him many times over, to avail.

“Yamada-kun!”

Taro looks up, an indecipherable look on his face, and just slightly cocks his eyebrow.

“If you’re not going to eat lunch with Najimi-chan, would you like to eat with me and my friends?”

Taro gives him a strange look, before clearing the corner and walking past him.

“O...kay. I’m taking that as a no.”

* * *

Taro Yamada has never been in love.

Love, he thinks, is a stupid concept that only children and delusional idealists believe in.

He should know, after all. Many a girl had bowed in front of him at the cherry tree, face flushed and arms extended, holding an envelope or note or card or gift. 

They had all been so daft, so boring, so  _ stupid _ .

He had always thanked them with a thin veneer of politeness, to hide the simmering rage beneath his skin. How dare they think they could win his affections, with such pitiable attempts? It was pathetic, really. Just like girls. They were so shallow, lacking any intellectual depth. Osana was a rare exception, but even she wasn’t that special.

But that girl he had collided with before school…

She was something special.

Her eyes were what anyone else would’ve described as unsettling, emotionless.

Taro knew better. He saw a mystery in those flinty gunmetal eyes, a mystery that only he could unravel. After all, they were made for each other. She had opened a new world for him, a world of happiness and love for him, and he could do the same for her, if given the chance.

He had pulled some strings with people who owed him a favor and had connections to the Student Council, and he had discovered her name.

Ayano Aishi.

Yes, Ayano.  _ Yan-Chan _ . She was beautiful.

And she was going to be his.

He made more of the fact that she was heading for the roof to eat lunch, so he followed her, making an excuse to Osana that he needed to go study.  _ (“On the first day? Idiot! Your grades are terrible anyway, when has studying ever helped?”) _

Osana’s meddling was of no importance. He just needed to figure out his kouhai’s schedule. He followed her through the hallway, looking down at his book periodically to play up the appearance of studying, and so that no one would notice him following her. It was fine until she collided into Budo Masuta.

He stopped at the corner, barely peeking over, trying to catch some of their conversation. He picked up something about friends, and Budo clapped, smiled, while Ayano nodded.

This angered Taro.

He should be the  _ only _ boy Ayano talks to. He shook off that quickly. Not yet, he reminded himself. She didn’t belong to him yet, and he had no way to prove that Masuta was interested in her. After all, Budo Masuta was a gnat. Loud. Annoying. In your face. Taro shuddered, remembering Masuta’s many futile attempts to befriend him.

Anyway, Budo was too strong of an opponent. If Taro were to eliminate him, he needed more time.

Yes, all he needed was time.

He peeked up, hearing someone calling his name— it was Budo. Of course it was Budo. Taro simply shrugged him off and walked past him.

He had a kouhai to stalk.

* * *

The end of the day came, and Ayano found herself drifting out of the school gates, beginning the walk home. As she walked, she took time to reflect. First, there was the boy she ran into on the way to school that morning. He seemed odd, but she was in no place to judge. Still, there was something off about him that she couldn’t quite place. Something about his demeanor was strikingly familiar.

Second, there was Budo Masuta. He was outgoing, friendly, maybe a little too much so. She wondered what could’ve possibly given him the idea that she needed friends. She had never had friends, and she was okay with that. As long as she left others alone, they would leave her alone in turn.

That was good.

She finished the walk home in silence, never once noticing the pair of eyes fixed on her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave me feedback. That aside, I don't know what I'm going to do with this fic. I will probably continue writing it to completion... but I'm not sure. This was originally written a long while ago, when I was still involved in the Yan Sim fandom. I still love the core concept of the game, but it's gone in a direction that I can no longer support. This might be orphaned after a while- I genuinely don't want to associate myself with this game and YandereDev. That being said, I genuinely enjoy receiving feedback and critiques.
> 
> I will definitely at least upload the first four/five chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

Taro lies in bed, wide awake. 

He can’t sleep, for he is haunted with visions of flinty grey eyes and silky black hair, of a girl who’s stare was cold enough to freeze hell.

He sighs, holding his palm to his flushed, warm cheek, a delirious smile on his face, imagining what could be—

Then his phone buzzes.

 **???:** Ayano Aishi. An interesting choice.

 **Taro:** Who are you? Why do you have my number?

 **???:** I could be your strongest ally… or your worst enemy.

 **Taro:** Cut to the chase. What do you want from me?

 **???:** I go by Info-Chan. I’m willing to offer you information about your new flame.

 **Taro:** I’ve heard of you. Everything you deal comes with a price, yeah? And it’s usually nothing good.

 **???:** I see my reputation precedes me.

 **Taro:** It does. Delete my number.

 **???:** Wouldn’t you like to know what I have to say first?

 **Taro:** Fine. Talk.

 **???:** I saw how you looked at Masuta when he spoke to your kouhai. You want to eliminate him, do you not? What if I could tell you who else could pose a threat to your pursuit of Ayano, and how to get rid of them?

 **Taro:** …

 **Taro:** What’s it gonna cost me?

* * *

Ayano only slept because she had to.

If it were up to her, she wouldn’t need to sleep— it was a waste of time. Instead, she turns on her desktop, and considers calling her parents. Her cursor hovers above the video chat icon, before ultimately deciding that it would be unwise.

Her mother, after all, would pose some… intrusive questions.

Instead, she opens Kaobook. Her timeline is rather uneventful— Sakyu Basu and Midori Gurin have both posted useless questions, and Musume Ronshaku is gossiping, so there was nothing to see. She was about to shut off her PC and go to bed...

Except the “Friends” icon in the corner had just lit up.

_You have (2) friend requests!_

Sleep could wait.

She clicked on the icon, wondering who it could be— she wasn’t exactly popular, and never really posted on social media, anyway.

_Budo Masuta sent you a friend request!_

_Taro Yamada sent you a friend request!_

She should’ve known that Masuta was going to be one of them— she had pegged him as the persistent type, and it appeared that she was right.

Yamada, however, was a mystery.

Ayano instantly recognized him as the boy she’d bumped into that morning, but why was he sending her a friend request? He seemed like a longer— she’d never seen him before, and he only had a small handful of Kaobook friends. Why reach out to her?

She was probably reading too much into it. She approved both requests and went to bed.

* * *

The next morning was ordinary, as always. She woke up at six, made her bed, got dressed, ate breakfast, and set off for school, arriving at seven. There was no running into random boys on the street, so it had been a normal day thus far.

Until it wasn’t. Really, there was no point in her going to school so early— she had no friends to talk to, no clubs to join, really nothing to do besides mill about and wander aimlessly.

She really only did it because it was a habit— her father had always encouraged her to go to school early to make some friends. She always went early to appease him, but she wouldn’t make friends. Her father may be in America, but it was still a habit, and habits were important to Ayano.

She enjoyed having some semblance of normalcy and order in her life.

Said order was disrupted when she was knocked out of her thoughts by crashing into someone— _again._

This was starting to get out of hand. She really needed to start keeping an eye out while walking.

She was on the floor, legs splayed at an awkward angle, twisting her knees mildly painfully. She didn’t have much time to dwell on this, however, because a gruff male voice came from above her— “Hey, watch where you’re going!”

She recognized the boy she had run into as Gaku Hikitsuri, a delinquent in her class. He was glaring down at her, when a look of realization crossed his face and he stepped back ever so slightly.

“J-just don’t do it again, okay?”

A shadow fell over Ayano and she was consciously aware that there was someone behind her, another male voice coming from said someone.

“Is there a problem here?”

She knew that voice. She looked up, not even remotely surprised to find Budo Masuta, dressed in a karategi, standing over her.

The delinquent glared at the other boy before turning tail and running away. Budo quickly ran to face her front and stuck out a hand. “Need some help?”

She held his gaze and stared up at him with a blank expression, before taking his hand and pulling herself up.

“I see you accepted my friend request,” he said with a smile, before his expression went stern, “You should get more sleep! Staying up until three isn’t healthy!” His smile returned once again, “Anyway, I’m glad that you—“

“Why were you awake, then?”

His smile faded, and for a brief moment Ayano could see his sunny facade slipped, revealing a tired, wary shell of the person standing in front of her.

His smile returned as quickly as it had crumbled. He ran a hand through the back of his hair, grinning sheepishly. “...It doesn’t matter.” He turned around and started walking away, seemingly in a rush. After a few steps, he paused, and his head whipped around, “My offer still stands!”

Ayano quickly brushed herself off, still slightly bemused by that encounter. Masuta was… interesting, to say the least.

* * *

Osana was… irritating.

Of course, he had noticed this before— she was bossy, rude, and loud, but she was still his best friend, and for Taro, loyalties ran deep.

“I-idiot!” Osana yelled at him, “You almost overslept _again_! You know, if it weren’t for me, you would always be late!”

Taro was no idiot. He could see the pink dusting her cheeks, plain as day. It was obvious that Osana had feelings for him, he’d known it for a while. He had never paid any mind to them before, though. There was no need.

But now… circumstances had changed. He wondered if he would need to _eliminate_ Osana, lest she be too difficult to shake, too persistent. Plus, she could read him like a book, she would _know_ that something was wrong if he just rejected her. She had been there in middle school, when he was never able to reject girls in the fear of hurting their feelings.

It was still too early to decide what to do with Osana. He needn’t be so hasty. After all, she could prove useful later on.

* * *

As much as he tried to be the good boy, the teachers’ favorite, the star martial artist, the friendly and outgoing popular kid, it was _exhausting._ It was only the second day of school and Budo was already burned out.

His parents had begun sending him to cram school over the break, _“You’re going into your last year of high school, it’s time to think more about your future!”_

He hated it. It did away with _any_ free time he might have, between homework, exercise, and practicing at the dojo. He had already had trouble balancing everything in his first two years, and now?

Besides that, he had younger students coming to him for help on their work, because everyone saw him as a responsible, upstanding student.

He wondered how long he’d be able to hold up his facade before people started noticing.

He was sure that Ayano had already noticed, anyway. Her eyes had a way of looking into someone’s soul.

There was no way she had missed it, which really made him wonder how long it would take for other peoples’ perception of him to change.

* * *

Ayano huffed as she walked up the final set of stairs leading to the rooftop, bento in hand. The stairs were an annoyance, but at least the rooftop was usually a nice, quiet place to eat lunch.

She pushes the doors open,

And suddenly her ears are assaulted by a _very_ loud voice.

“Idiot! Ugh, why didn’t you eat lunch with me yesterday? I made you lunch, you know!”

The owner of the voice was sitting on one of the bences near the door, someone Ayano recognizes as one of her classmates, Osana Najimi. The pigtailed girl is sitting next to someone, who turns their head to face her and respond—

Said someone is Taro Yamada, the boy she ran into yesterday. As soon as he sees her, he freezes, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, gaping at her like a fish out of water. Unsettled, Ayano turns around and goes back through the doors. As she walks away, she can hear Osana ~~yell~~ speak again.

“Huh? What are you looking at, idiot?”

So much for quiet.

* * *

Budo was so, _so_ tired. 

The more the day dragged on, the worse it got. 

He couldn’t even focus on martial arts, which was literally the only activity he genuinely cared about.

“Budo,” Sho said after their club practice, appearing behind him, “Are you okay?”

Budo jumped, startled, “Sho! Don’t sneak up on me like that, you almost gave me a heart attack!”  
  
Sho rolled his eyes, “It’s not like you to be so… unaware. Just answer the question, dammit!”

Budo sighed. “I’m fine, I swear. Just tired. Still trying to adjust to a new sleep schedule, I’m too used to crashing at three and waking up at ten.” He threw in a chuckle, hoping that it would sound convincing enough.

Sho raised an eyebrow, before placing a hand on the other boy’s shoulder. “...Right. You know you can tell us if something’s wrong, right?”

Budo plastered on a smile, “Of course I know that! Now let’s go, the gates’ll be closing soon.”

They walked out of the school gates, talking about a new manga before parting ways, having to go in different directions to reach their houses.

As he approached his house, he noticed that both cars were in the driveway, so both of his parents were home already. The door was unlocked, and he was greeted by his mother, who called him from the kitchen— “Budo, get changed and get the dinner I made you, you have cram school in thirty minutes!”

He sighed and trudged upstairs to his room, opening his closet and taking a look at his (clean) clothing. He shrugged off his uniform and pulled on a soft tee and joggers— if he was going to suffer, he might as well suffer comfortably. He ran downstairs and grabbed the bento his mom prepared for him, shooting out a quick “Thanks, bye!” before shoving it in his cram school bag and dashing out the door.

He wouldn’t have any time to exercise today, so he decided to get his afterschool workout in by running to his cram school.

* * *

Taro put the last of his homework in his backpack, having just finished it.

He took his book out of his backpack, walking to his bed,

And his phone, sitting on his desk, buzzed with a text notification.

 **???:** This one’s a freebie.

 **???:** [attachment]

Taro clicked on the video that Info-Chan sent him. It showed his beloved kouhai running into one of those vile delinquents. _How dare_ that unworthy lowlife touch her? She was too beautiful, too precious to be around such people. He watched further, and there was _Budo Masuta_ , standing over _his_ Ayano in an effort to intimidate the delinquent.

What a tryhard white knight.

 **???:** You want to protect the little Aishi girl, right?

 **Taro:** Obviously.

 **???:** Then get rid of him.

 **Taro:** Who?

 **???:** The delinquent. He’s trouble anyway, if you get rid of him you’re not only protecting your kouhai, you’re protecting the entire school.

 **Taro:** Why do YOU want him dead? What do you get out of this?

 **???:** We discussed that yesterday.

 **Taro:** That’s still not answering my question.

 **???:** You eliminate a threat to your precious kouhai, and I get a headline. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. Now, are you going to get rid of him, or not?

 **Taro:**...what should I do?

 **???:** I’m glad you asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the plot ~~dickens~~ thickens
> 
> i have no idea if japanese cram schools offer meal breaks. however, i do know that chinese cram schools do (i know this from going to my cousin’s cram school with her when i was over in china (this was over the summer so don’t come at me)), so i’m assuming that japanese cram schools do too.


End file.
